"Pigster" aka "Feast of Fear"

I added "Pigster" to my watch list because I feel like there aren't enough monster pig movies out there in the world.  I'm still right, but during my 20 in 2020, maybe I'll rectify that, at least with a short.  But for now, "Pigster" adds nothing to the "monster pig" sub genre, although he is a monster and he looks like a pig.  His "piggish" looks aside, he fits in more to the Demonic Monsters arena.  And that's cool too.

In fact, I feel like the movie's original title, "Feast of Fear" more accurately prepares you for what you're in for when you sit down to watch this one.  Fear and a "Wishmaster" like hook that nobody gets something for nothing, play the biggest roles in this movie, although there are monsters-a-plenty to be seen.

The Pigster's make-up, especially around the eyes, is amazing.  His character is a bit of a throwback to the heavy metal, guitar playing movie demons I grew up with in the 80s. I'm wondering if teens still find this sort of thing cool.  I'm hoping they do.  I found it a bit hokey, but the nostalgia was enough to carry me through.  And Pigster isn't the only demon monster in this movie.  The Dealer (Robert Davi) and The Messenger ( Clint Howard ) are your basic human looking demons who sit at opposite ends of the spectrum.  The Dealer recruits the sould to feed fear to Pigster's protagonist, The Beast.  He is well dressed, charming and calm.  Davi plays him perfectly, as expected.  On the other side of the demons interacting with our world sits The Messenger.  He wears rags and is seen as a homeless person with a quirky personality who speaks in riddles.  Unfortunately, Howard is relegated pretty much to a cameo here, but he turns in his usual professional and off-center performance.

A cast of lost souls living in the hellish dimension with Pigster give the f/x team a lot of room to exercise some creativity and they come through.  For monster make-up fans and lovers of masks, this movie has a couple of set pieces that really deliver.

The Beast and Rat Girl round out the underworld cast and they're spectacular, although the Beast is underused.  In true monster movie fashion we get suggestions of what he looks like for  most of the movie and after some of the other make-up we're treated to in full view, his final reveal is a bit of a let down.

Unexpectedly good CG effects are utilized throughout most of the movie.  Some of the keying stands out as greenscreen (or blue or whatever color they used), but it's usually within the "fantastic" realm of the demon dimension and so the unreal feeling works for it.  Again, a bit of a 80s/early 90s vibe is elicited by these moments and made them work for me.

Acting, directing and score are solid all around.  A few moments aren't high-budget quality, but nothing that couldn't be overlooked with the overall quality film carrying you through to the next scene of gore, violence or beastly battle.  

There is a character who enigmatically explains what's going on.   I suspect this was for two reasons:
1. The exposition was needed to explain the demon's weaknesses.
2. The movie needed padding and adding a storyteller who interrupts every so often from a single lair set was an economic way to do it.

The movie clocks in at just over an hour, but one of my favorite things about streaming films is that they don't need to hit unrealistic 90 or 120 minute marks in order to be made.  Some stories are best told at a brisk pace and this is one of them.

If you're in the mood for some demonic bacon, "Pigster" will give you an hour of entertainment you won't soon forget.

Warning: The Trailer gets pretty bloody and I wouldn't call it SFW unless you work at Troma or someplace like that.

                                     

Usually this is where I post one of my videos along a similar line.  I've got nothing like this in my toolbox.  So, here's the newest "Jack vs Lanterns" trailer.


                                       

Demon Wind!

Get those fart jokes out of the way now so that we can discuss the movie.

A Product of it's time.

Charles Phillip Moore's 1990 monster movie, "Demon Wind" is a mash-up of the horror films that came before it.  A lot of people compare it to "Evil Dead" and the inspiration is undeniable, but there are definitely elements of "Night of the Living Dead" in there too.  And then the movie brings in a big helping of occult movies from the 70s, such as "The Devil's Rain".  It's actually a nice divergence from the knife wielding, faceless stalkers that surrounded it at the time.

What's fun.

If you've read a few reviews here then you know that I love my monsters, enjoy retro F/X and enjoy a straight forward story with characters who act out of some kind of motivation.  "Demon Wind" treats us to most of these elements.

The make-up F/X get a bit "sloppy" at times, but gooey, drippy, puss filled demons were the order of the day in the late 80s and early 90s.  When these demons get attacked their whole body sneezes, spewing forth a yellowish green goop that will make the uninitiated viewer gag.  

The human blood and gore are fairly well done too.  It's your standard syrupy blood that sprays or drips depending on the circumstances.  There's a fairly unconvincing severed head, but they found a way to make sure you knew whose head it was by accessorizing it. ( I did this in quite a few of my movies because nearly every severed I used was one of only two I had at the time. In "All Wrapped Up" we gave him a hat and sunglasses to match him to the actor.)

The creature f/x are a mixed bag.  There's a scene in a  barn that I won't discuss too much, but the effect is very well achieved and one that I've used several times in the "Alien Vengeance" movies. (That will probably give you a hint of what to expect.)  Later in the movie when we finally see the main demon I felt like an opportunity was lost.  Like the demons that came before him he's a bit of a deformed slime covered mess.  That may be scarier to some, but for me, well, we've been looking at melting possessed people the whole movie.  At this point I wanted a well sculpted horror from Hell.  Oh well.  His legs were cool and they did give him some nifty demonic powers.

Ah, the light effects.  Lightning, "fire bolts", magic and whatever else you'd like to call it, we're treated to all of the pre-CG glowing f/x they could think of here and I loved it. Cheesy? Yes.  Effective? Yes.  Fun? You betchya!  I specifically added a light effect to the closing of "Indiscretions" because it was a "stranded in a cabin with a monster" movie and they all need some glowing magic effect to be complete.

Our lead character has a believable, if not totally realistic, motivation. Cory ( Eric Larson ) is looking for answers at his ancestral home, where his grandparents died under mysterious circumstances six decades earlier.  Some of his friends seem like genuine friends, but others are obviously just there as demon fodder and why they went along on this journey or stayed for any length of time after things got weird is never really explored.  It doesn't need to be though.  We're given a basic explanation and then the magic (evil magic, mostly) starts and that's enough.

The Performances. 

Overall, we have a pretty strong cast here.  No real weak links in the acting.  A few over the top performances, but they're all called for and well placed.  There are even a few very creepy kids if that's the kind of thing that scares you. 

The Story gets lost a bit.

Towards the end the movie takes some odd turns and I think they may have been partially explained by the big demon, but his voice was so synthesized that his maniacal ramblings were a bit difficult to understand.  In the end, I wasn't sure what had made Cory's family so central to the plot or what we were supposed to think was going on.  We get an action packed, monster tossing heroes, fire spewing finale of a fight scene though, so I'll forgive it.

The Wrap up.

You can currently see "Demon Wind" included with a Prime membership.  Last I checked it has a four star rating on Amazon with over 31 reviews, which is pretty high praise for a movie of this kind.

Check out the trailer and decide for yourself if this fun, demon filled, goopfest is for you.